In 1832, a building was erected beside the church, on Church Road, which housed a day school, a Sunday school, an infants’ school, a dispensary with a physician and a shop for supplying the poor with necessities at reduced prices. It was demolished in the 1960s.
In 1871, the Church of Ireland was disestablished, that is, it ceased to be the state church and became independent of the government. St Matthew’s thus lost its “Royal Chapel” status and became a normal parish church with its own vestry, or self- governing body of lay people.